Achates CEO on Growth, Obama’s Climate Plan, Fairbanks Morse Deal

Date:08/27/2015

Company:Achates Power

Source:Xconomy

By: Sarah Schmid

In April, San Diego-based Achates Power announced it was opening a Michigan office to capitalize on the market momentum of its opposed-piston engines. I caught up with Achates CEO David Johnson this week to find out how things were going.

“We have a great facility,” Johnson said, referring to the company’s recently opened Customer Application Engineering Center in Farmington Hills, MI. “We are very, very busy. It’s a steady drumbeat in terms of growth. We have about 10 people working in Detroit but we have space for 25, and I’m sure we’ll fill it.”

Last Spring, Johnson told Xconomy that the next phase of the business involved licensing its technology to high-volume manufacturers and continuing to refine its two-stroke, three-cylinder engine prototype. Achates touts its engine as cleaner, cheaper, and more fuel-efficient than traditional internal combustion engines, and it can be used in cars, trucks, military vehicles, ships, and power generation.